TEACHING PIANO LESSONS FOR BEGINNERS, ADULTS & CHILDREN
by Tammy Widjaja (something that i've experienced)

Playing & also thinking about teaching piano lessons ? Teaching Piano lessons isn't easy, infact it is one of the hardest thing i've ever done in my entire life. Unlike teaching adults, teaching kids, which I had the pleasure of doing for 6 months, is no walk in the park. I've noticed that many children start to learn the Piano, liked it for a few months and then found it boring and frigthening and is totally out of it. I keep telling their private teacher (which happens to be a friend of mine who is currently lives in Jakarta, Indonesia) that the Piano is a lonely instrument and it is probably because of the lack of stimulus derived from learning with other children in their piano lessons accounts in part for the many fall out of students from piano lesson after a few months. I've always suggested better doing it in groups instead of doing it in private since the group lessons always tend to combat this loneliness, and to a certain extent makes it fun and enjoyable for the students to learn and for the teachers to teach (this is what some piano books which I've read recommends also).

In a group piano teaching and piano lesson classes, children discover new things, learn from one another and also get to play together and learn to critize and be critized constructively. It is always the competitive spirit which will drive children to learn the piano lessons. This team spirit will hasten progress and also at the same time the interest in learning and playing the piano.

These group lessons is never frightening like nearly all individual lesson might be (especially for children). It gives an easy feeling to children when they are doing their lessons to see that other kids are also making he same mistakes like what they are making. At the very end, as you teach piano to kids, both you and the kids will discover that the success of each piano lesson largely depends on the work done by each individual. As a teacher you will rarely experience the dreariness of teaching pupils who do not practise. As a teacher you will be so stimulated by the excitement caused by the groups involvement in your lessons. Last but not least this is not just something I've experienced, I am sure many like me have exeperienced this also.

How many piano lessons and how long ? Many say that progress will be quicker and will last longer when we do two lessons ( 60 minute period per lesson) a week rather than one. Where two piano lessons a week are given, it is much better if it is given in different days. Apart from the lessons with their teachers, students should also try as much as possible to do things that relate to piano learning, for instance by watching a piano lesson DVD or doing activities related to music (this is my suggestion). During those lessons, one should focus on technique and the other (on a different day) should focus on musicianship. At present many teachers feel that musicianship cannot be done until much later but I think it should be started right at the very beginning.